Rahul waits as Cong chief gets 1-year extension

Jaswinder Singh Baidwan

Akhran da mureed
Staff member
The much-awaited generational change in the Congress stands postponed for a while with the party’s highest decision-making body today extending the tenure of incumbent party president Sonia Gandhi by a year.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) approved a year’s extension for the current Congress organisation and its office-bearers after the party discovered it was difficult to conclude the internal election process by the due date of December 31 this year.
The Congress constitution mandates party elections every five years. Since the last elections took place in 2010, the party had to ensure a new organisation by December 2015. But now, it would have to seek extra time from the Election Commission to do it, hence the annual extension.
The political implication of today’s move is that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi would not be immediately elevated as the party president. In her concluding remarks to the CWC today, Sonia, however, said a year’s extension was a technicality and the party must complete its election process before that deadline.
That apart, the development sent clear signals all over that Rahul was still not ready to assume the charge from his mother though he has been the party vice-president since January 2013 and in active politics for 11 years.
As for the Congress, it seemed happy with the announcement on Sonia.
“We are lucky to have both the seasoned leadership of Sonia and youthful leadership of Rahul.
This situation is good for the Congress and the country. It is ideal. Anyway it is not as though there is a position vacant at the top which needs to be filled,” senior Congress leader and CWC member Ghulam Nabi Azad said.
A section of the CWC leadership read Sonia’s continuation as significant saying it appeared to have stemmed from fears of the Congress’ weak electoral prospects in Bihar and humungous challenges in poll-bound Assam, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh later. “Leaders may have cautioned the Congress chief to mind the timing of Rahul’s elevation lest the blame of losses should come to him as it did in the Lok Sabha and UP debacles,” said a CWC member.
Another view in the Congress is that Rahul will assume charge within some time after the party organisation is revamped and Rahul’s team inducted. “Before Rahul comes, his team will enter the organisation with Sonia still in charge. That will grant Rahul’s men legitimacy in the face of obvious resistance from entrenched quarters,” said another Congress leader.
Officially Azad said, “When and how Rahul is elevated only time will tell.”
A major reason for delayed Congress elections is slow membership. Party leaders admit while they were enrolling one lakh members five years ago, the figure stood around 30,000 now.
 
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